


Frozen in Time

by FireSoul



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover Event (CW DC TV Universe), Everyone Hates Lex Luthor, F/M, Leonard Snart Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:28:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21972862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireSoul/pseuds/FireSoul
Summary: Being trapped at The Vanishing Point isn't as easy for Sara as it is for the others. To them this is just a place, and if any sort of place it's a safe haven. But for her the place will never be that. Not after what it took from her.Not until it gives it back.
Relationships: Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe (Mentioned), Sara Lance/Leonard Snart
Comments: 23
Kudos: 106





	Frozen in Time

Sara can’t take much more of this.

Some paragons they are. How are they supposed to save the multiverse when there isn’t even one universe left to save?

They’ve been here at The Vanishing Point for a few days now, sort of, without the passage of time it’s really hard to tell, even more so than on The Waverider. So far they haven’t done much more than fight with each other – namely Lex - and sulk. It started off quick enough, with Kate punching him across the face. Barry and Kara managed to hold her back initially after that, but at some point Lex shot his mouth off in the wrong place at the wrong time and Kate straight up pushed him off the ledge of the base. Sara is telling herself Kate had seen the rather large piece of wreckage suspended right underneath and realized Lex wouldn’t have fallen more than a few feet. However he didn’t fall, because time doesn’t move here, so he became suspended in the atmosphere like every other piece of crap floating around. He got back eventually, but now that they know pushing him like that won’t hurt him he has become a bit of an emotional punching bag, especially for Kara.

That’s what Sara is walking away from right now, actually. For as smart as Lex supposedly is he still can’t seem to figure out when to stop talking, and Kara has just flung him out into orbit for a second time today.

If yesterday ever ended, that is, which technically it didn’t. Technically, here, no day ever ended.

Not even the worst one.

She has done everything in her power over past… almost four years, damn. It really has been awhile.

Anyway, she’s done whatever she can to keep herself from thinking about that day. Time had helped, but now there is no time. This moment is frozen, and aftermath of everything which happened within it has remained as fresh and constant, the way it will until somebody changes it.

It seems as though The Legion of Doom did a little sweeping and some other light housekeeping in the areas they were using. Thoughtful.

The deeper parts of The Vanishing Point, however, are still suspended in distress.

She can tell she’s getting closer to the heart of maze of rooms by the amount of damage still living. Lights are still flickering, practically begging to be either put out or changed. Sparks are still exploding from semi-live wires. Water is even still dripping from pipes.

She wonders how things like those never run out, even trapped eternally in the same moment. Maybe they reset, the same drop of water plopping against the ground over and over again.

By now she’s come to what is by far her least favorite area in the entire base: The Oculus Wellspring.

The last time she was here she tried to come in and pay respects… but she couldn’t. She wasn’t strong enough. The cold feel of this room, the sight of all the rubble scattered about everywhere; it had made her want to collapse into a fit of tears.

Mick… He had been strong enough. He had walked right up the remainder of the ramp to what had once housed The Oculus and he stood before the biggest pile of crushed rubble and paid respects.

_“Get him out of here!”_ Leonard’s words had rung in her head. Savage wasn’t coming for them any more, and there were no Time Master, but there was The Legion. So she’d pulled him away.

She told him it was what Snart would’ve wanted, and true he had ordered her that, but still… it had been more for her own benefit.

She still wants to collapse into a fit of tears, maybe more this time than last, but she owes it to him, she owes it to Mick, to pay some respects.

The Wellspring Chamber is in the worst shape of the entire Vanishing Point. Huge piles of rock and dust lay everywhere, none of it really quite settled, and all over the room carries a chill of death.

Walking into the chamber her white boots pick up black dust, and instantly she knows its ash. The nothingness remains of the Time Masters who had fought to their bitter end. The Time Masters and…

She exhales slowly.

She makes her way up the ramp, which is in surprisingly good shape with all things considered, and squats down just in front of the enormous pile of rock and molten metal at it’s platform.

“Hey Crook.” She says softly, her voice already thick and on the verge of cracking. “So um… I just wanted to let you know… We uh… We lost the world.”

She pauses to wipe a tear off her cheek, and then presses on.

“It wasn’t the mission against Savage. We won that, thanks to you. You know, I think you did so, so much more for history than every other Legend put together. The things we’ve seen happen…. None of it would’ve been possible with Oculus in play.”

She shutters and presses a hand to her mouth, sniffling as her voice finally gives in to the tears and their moisture fills her words.

“You saved everyone. And me… I lost them, Snart. I lost them. We all did. We couldn’t do it without you.”

And that, she realizes bitterly, is probably very true. Snart would’ve been suspicious of Lyla from the moment she went missing, if not from the moment she showed up in the first place. He would’ve handled Lex straight away, kept a close eye on him and stolen that damned book before he even laid his eyes on it; never mind his hands. He would’ve had a plan, or at the very least he would’ve been able to come up with a plan now.

With every thought, every “would have” that passes through her head she loses more and more control over her tears. She sobs violently and it’s only a matter of time before her balance falters and she shoots out a hand to catch herself on the pile of rubble. What she grasps is a loose rock, and it gives way under her sudden pressure so she grips further down the pile. Still sobbing she wipes at her eyes and blinks them open, and when she does her vision fixes on something in the rubble.

She can’t tell what it is at first. All her mind will process is a red blob. But she looks closer, forces her mind to see the object clearly, and when she realizes what it is she nearly chokes on her own tears.

A blood streaked hand.

A body; Leonard’s body.

That’s what she knows, logically, it is. Even if the assassin part of her brain is telling her blood shouldn’t even still be visible after nearly four years, never mind red, and the time traveling Captain part of her brain is saying time doesn’t move here, she won’t listen to those parts. After everything, after all she’s lost, she _won’t_ hope for the impossible.

What she will do is get to her feet and dig away at the rubble. She uses the sudden rush of irrational, hopeful, adrenalin to aid her in toppling the biggest rock over the edge of the platform. She digs away at the rest, pushing and shoving bits of rock and seething through her teeth when she touches the metal bits and they are still white hot, but she shoves them away anyway. She is aware that as she goes she is exposing bits and pieces of torn cloth and cut up limbs, but it is only after she removes one final chunk of large stone that she gasps at the sight before her.

Leonard.

Battered, broken, bloody, Leonard.

She has to know. She thinks she does, as he _has_ to be dead, even if his blood is still glistening bright. She reaches for his neck, her breath held tight in her chest, preparing to be met with nothing.

_Thump, thump._

A pulse.

He’s alive.

It feels like all of the oxygen leaves her body in one punch, and until it returns all she can do is stare at Leonard.

Leonard. Alive. Under so much rubble that she hasn’t been able to move yet.

By now logic and strategy are starting to work their way back into her thought process. Even if she can remove all of the remaining rubble from him, moving the bigger pieces on her own will likely cause more harm than good. Then, even if it doesn’t do more harm, how much good will it really do? He won’t heal on his own, and she can’t do the impossible.

Fortunately, there is someone still alive who can.

“BARRY!”

She sprints down the halls of the base, shouting the name over and over again as she does. She runs all the way back to what used to be a garden, to where she last left most of the group arguing over the ethical vs. tactical advantages and disadvantages to killing Lex.

“BARRY!”

She catches sight of Barry, and everyone else for that matter, turning to look at her as she comes tearing down the path. She skids to a stop right in front of Barry; heaving her breath in and out all while trying to find the words to tell him that Leonard is alive.

“Sara?” He asks, hovering close to her.

“The Oculus chamber.” She pants. “Leonard. He’s alive.”

She sees Barry’s eyes turn wide, and the next thing she knows she feels his arms wrapped around her and wind racing through her hair. It’s only a fraction of a second later that they’re back in The Oculus chamber, Barry standing next to her and gaping dumbly at Leonard lying in a pulverized heap of rock and metal.

There’s another gust of wind and the others all appear, minus Lex of course. Barry turns to the group, and Sara notes that his face is serious and grave… but there is a touch of hope.

“Help us get him out of there.”

They manage, albeit, not easily. Kate handles the piping hot metal; turns out her gloves are prepared for events like that. Sara’s own hands are stilling glowing red with burns and so she allows Kara to cool them down whilst J’onn works on the heavier pieces of rubble. It’s really only one overly large piece left – right across Leonard’s chest - and soon as it’s removed they can actually hear Leonard exhale in relief. He doesn’t wake up, but still, it’s more confirmation that he’s alive.

Barry and J’onn drag him down the ramp, and following an instinct Sara gets to her knees and ushers for them to prop him against her.

“Ok,” Kate says, “I don’t know who this guy is, but he isn’t going to last much longer with these injuries.”

“He will here.” Barry says, “Time not moving is what’s kept him alive. It’s like he’s in a stasis, like all the lights and the water. He doesn’t get better, but he doesn’t get worse.”

“Ok.” Kara says, her hands settling onto her hips as she starts to think. “So when we defeat the Anti-Monitor-”

“If.” Kate chimes in.

“ _When_.” Kara stresses, glaring. “When we defeat the Anti-Monitor and bring everybody back, we can bring The Waverider here and put him in the med-bay. In the meantime he’ll be fine, right?”

Sara hates to think what she is, she really does, but Leonard is here with his head in her lap and literally hanging on to his last breath. She won’t risk losing him again.

“We don’t know if that will be possible.” She says, giving voice to her terrible thoughts. “Even if we do defeat The Anti-Monitor, we can’t be sure it’ll bring back anything that we’ve lost.”

“Sara-”

“And even if it does.” She presses on, ignoring Kara and that pleading look in her eyes. “We can’t be sure it’ll be everything. We might only get back some of it, and even if we can get it all back I’m not sure even The Waverider could fix this.”

That’s a hard one to admit, but it’s true. As miraculous as The Waverider’s med bay can be, there are some things beyond even its capabilities. Ultimately she would’ve died from that bullet from trader Rip without Stein; in fact she did for a few minutes. Kendra would have died from that dagger shard had it not been for Ray, the med-bay had only allowed them to find it. And Carter… Stein… There had been no saving them.

She looks down at Leonard and how beat up he is. He’s bleeding from virtually everywhere, his left hand practically shredded down to the bone; and those bones are broken and visible. His clothes are torn and the skin beneath the holes is nothing but peeling blisters. His pulse – which Sara is keeping two fingers pressed to – is weak. Present, but weak. He’ll die the second he leaves The Vanishing Point, med-bay or no.

“Maybe I can.” Barry says, stepping forward.

Sara looks up at him with a thousand questions and protests in her mind, most of them likely written on her face as well. Barry, in turn, doesn’t look half as confident as he sounds but he squats next to her anyways, his eyes roaming every inch of Leonard’s body before they finally meet hers.

“When The Flash from Earth-90 gave himself to save us, he temporarily stole my speed so I wouldn’t be able to follow him.”

He takes a moment, looking to Leonard and then back at her, desperate.

“You know how this place works. What if I could give Snart some of my speed? My speed healing would kick in, right?”

She tries her best to think through the logistics of that, and her heart actually swells as she realizes she knows the answer.

Yes.

It’s an outside force. Like changing a light bulb, or Kara cooling down her hands.

She nods quickly, “Yes.”

With a relieved smile Barry places his hand on Leonard’s chest and so Sara braces her own hands against his shoulders. Barry starts vibrating his arm and within seconds Leonard is convulsing under her grip. First it’s small, but then bigger, and she would be worried except his blisters are fading to a normal pale color and sticky blood is flowing slower. Eventually Barry staggers back, almost landing on his ass were it not for Kara catching him under his arms. Leonard continues to seize minutely against her, and when that stops she moves her fingers to check is pulse again and receives a tiny shock for her efforts.

“It’ll take time.” Barry says as Kara helps him stand up. “Even with speed healing, I was in a coma for months after getting struck by lightning.”

It’s Kate who folds her arms, unconvinced. “I thought time didn’t move here?”

Sara wants to answer, to explain, but surprisingly, it’s Ryan who beats her to it.

“Yet, we’re still counting days.”

* * *

_“There are no strings on me.”_

He barely has time to finish the sentence before his hand is engulfed with a searing white pain. Every instinct he has in his body is screaming for him to get away but he can’t. Literally, he can’t. On reflex he tries to uncurl his fingers but they won’t go… and then there’s nothing.

For a while he feels for only a handful of seconds at a time, few and far between, each time like he is starting to wake from a _very_ deep sleep that he quickly succumbs back to. Finally, however, it starts to feel different. Like dawn is coming and he still isn’t ready to wake up. So he goes back into the darkness, the faint calls of something somewhere nearby hitting his ears. When he wakes up again it’s soon, almost as if he hasn’t fallen back asleep for more than a minute, and suddenly it feels like a weight has been lifted off his chest. Wow, he hadn’t realized how hard it had been to breathe. He can’t quite seem to wake himself up yet but he’s content with that. For the first time everything feels semi-comfortable. He can breathe and there is something warm underneath his head. He wants to open his eyes and see what it is but he can’t. He hears the faint sound of voices around him, some almost sound familiar, and The Oculus starts to come back to him. The pain, the darkness, and now what? Is this death? Are these his final moments of broken lucidity? His mind bestowing him with imaginary feelings of air half in his likely collapsed lungs and delusional voices at the edges of his ears?

There is a rush of a shock through his system. It feels like he’s being electrocuted, and suddenly he can’t feel or hear anything other than it, and when it’s over the darkness closes back around him.

Yeah, he thinks before he succumbs to it, this is death.

Yet, some long time later, the darkness lifts again.

This time, he is _very_ aware of the pain. There’s a lot of it, and it’s _everywhere_ , but as he grunt and grimaces against it he comes to a crucial realization.

He can move.

He opens his eyes first, and finds that he is looking at nothing other than the featureless blob of grey that is the ceiling of chambers in The Vanishing Point.

Peachy.

He tries to sit up and a shot of fiery pain through his side sends him right back down. Nope, not doing that.

Ok, so he can’t sit, and after that he isn’t sure he wants to try rolling over.

He can at least pick up his head and, with some bearable pain, prop himself up on his elbows to look around.

The first thing he notices is his elbows dip a bit into the firm material of a half-decent mattress. So he’s on a bed, meaning someone moved him from The Oculus chamber.

The walls around him are all stone and grey, and not to mention mostly in tact. There’s a light attached to the ceiling and covered by a lampshade, and a bookshelf up against the wall right next to a chrome door, but otherwise the room is bare.

That’s when the door slides open.

It’s Sara who steps into the doorway, though not all the way through it. She freezes the moment she sees him staring at her, and he can’t say he doesn’t do the same.

She looks different.

She’s wearing… He’ll say a version of her White Canary suite. One that’s cleaner and sleeker, and not to mention includes a much more gratuitous neckline. Her hair is different too. A little shorter and not quite as wavy as he remembers.

“You’re awake.” She finally stutters.

“It appears I am.” He says with a slow nod, “How long have I been out?”

Panic flashes through her eyes as she hurries in and sits on the very edge of the mattress, her eyes avoiding his when she does.

“Um… It’s a little complicated. It’s been close to a week since we found you. But uh, it’s been four years since The Oculus.”

He’s sure the surprise must be on his face.

Four years.

He’d assumed it’d been a long time; it feels like it. Before she walked in he might have guessed weeks, maybe a couple months. After she arrived he would’ve bet a year or two.

Four years.

“Ok… So where are we now?”

It’s the most practical question he can think of, and he isn’t sure if he can handle hearing even one thing that’s changed in all this time right now.

“At The Vanishing Point.” She answers, “Blowing up The Oculus worked, right now we’re just squatting in the Time Master’s old barracks, until we can come up with a plan.”

He should ask what kind of plan, or against who, or what, but instead…

“Why here?”

She sighs, her eyes closed in a way that forewarns pain coming when she opens them.

“Because here is the only place that’s left.”

She catches him up on everything, then. First on The Crisis, and on how literally every single being to ever exist in any universe is now gone except for seven supposed “paragons” and him, and then on anything else she feels he should know.

She tells him about Savage, about Stein, about Rip, about Jax and a wife and daughter he has in the future whom she couldn’t wait to meet before all this. She tells him about the new Legends, about how well Mick had been doing before he got tidal waved out of existence with the rest of the multi-verse, and then finally, she tells him about Ava.

“We’re hoping we can bring everyone back.” She says, and there is a touch of guilt to her words.

“Good.” He nods, hoping he doesn’t sound nearly as disappointed as he feels. “Sounds like you’ve got a lot worth fighting for.”

The smile she gives him is grateful, and he tries to return it. It does hurt to hear she’s moved on from him, almost as much as the physical pain that he’s in, but even so he is glad she was able to find happiness in his absence.

“We all do.” She says, “And, if you’re up for it, we could use your help.”

He nods.

“You might have to find some crutches lying around this place, but I will gladly take down another immortal bastard.”

He punctuates his words with a smirk, one that she returns.

“It’s late right now.” She tells him, and he obeys her before she even says it and eases himself back down. “Get some rest.”

He nods, though truthfully he doubts he’ll be resting much any time soon.

She probably knows that, but she smiles at him all the same and bends over to plant a soft kiss to his forehead.

“Good to have you back Len.”


End file.
